Soul Jar
A soul jar is a magical object that allows the owner to place a part of their soul inside of the object, keeping them anchored to life. Known Soul Jars The first known Soul Jar to have been created would be Alister Dalimar's Black Diary which he hid in Fate's Carnival shortly before his capture in the Ball of Fate, it was destroyed a few years later by the Master Detective. Some time before his capture yet after his construction of the Black Diary, Alister made his pet raven Tanatos a living Soul Jar, Tanatos later went on to live longer than any other of Alister's Soul Jars until his vessel was taken over by that of Ellen Hornebolt. At an unknown point Alister also made a small, badly hewn, purple stone in the shape of his heart in which he placed a piece of his soul for use in the Blood Ritual, however this was not needed due to the Child of the Forest being freed, it is unknown what happened to this Soul Jar, but it can be assumed that it was destroyed at some point, else Alister wouldn't have died at the climax of Ravenhearst Unlocked. In an alternate universe, the Heart Amulet was destroyed by the Master Detective. The effects of Soul Jars and their limitations Soul Jars will anchor the owner to the living realm and allow them to live unusually long (if not, infinite) lives. However, if a Soul Jar is to be destroyed, the owner will immediantly die, this is why Alister Dalimar also used a sentient creature that he could trust as another Soul Jar. Bringing the owners back from limbo If the owner were to die, yet they had other living Soul Jars, they would be trapped in a form of limbo and the means of getting them out of this limbo state proves to be quite difficult. It is unknown how Alister managed to free himself of this state without outside help, but in Key to Ravenhearst, the twins use Tanatos' DNA and merge them with the kidnapped sailors to attempt to bring back Alister and his son and grandson, but are unsuccessful. They later manage to create a new body for him using the souls of nearly a thousand people but it is unknown how they got his own soul in there. The destruction of Soul Jars There are three known means to destroying Soul Jars, and they are: *Silver, breaking the Soul Jar with a silver object (such as the Master Detective's badge) will destroy the soul inside it, silver is also used to destroy other evil apparitions that Alister can create. *Obsidian Dagger, although it isn't described in great detail as to what Alister did to the Soul Jar, it can be assumed that after his last Soul Jar was destroyed with silver, he enchanted his new Soul Jar to only be destroyed by a specific object, in this case, the Obsidian Dagger. *Another Soul, on the rare occasion that one of the souls of the undead forces it's way into a Soul Jar, it could override the original soul and destroy it, which is exactly what happened between Ellen Hornebolt and Tanatos.